


Niall the Pet

by DuckieLuver07



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Cute Kids, I swear, Other, but in the most innocent way possible, kinda confused kids, sorta pet play?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-04-16 14:13:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4628274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuckieLuver07/pseuds/DuckieLuver07
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry, Louis, Zayn and Liam have always wanted a pet of their own. When a shy blonde boy walks into their classroom, they decide that if their parents won't get them a pet, they can get their own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Niall the Pet

**Author's Note:**

> This is weird. And totally unlike anything I've ever written before. Like, if you liked my last story, you probably won't like this one because there is only the tiniest bit of angst. I tried to make it as realistic as possible, but it is a fanfic, and there are some allowances your allowed to make. Don't judge me too hard by this. I'm actually kind of embarrassed by it haha.  
> *** Realized that the format was horrible, fixed it. Hopefully it's readable now!***

In year three, Ed Sheeran got a brand new puppy for his birthday. Louis, Liam, Zayn and Harry thought it was the coolest present ever, and spent the next 8 months trying to convince their parents that they all needed dogs too. Unfortunately, they were all denied. Zayn’s parents were both allergic to animals. Louis had three little sisters at home, and his mom didn’t want to take care of something else. Harry was deemed too irresponsible to take care of a living creature (as shown by the late Sparky, Lightning and Lucky the rabbits). Liam’s mom was actually okay with getting him a puppy, but she knew that if he got one, the other boys would be devastated and the moms would have to deal with “but Liam got one,” from their sons. It was easier to go without a pet. After awhile, the boys lessened their pleas for a pet, and found other things to occupy their time.

  
A few months into year six, however, the boys were able to make their dreams come true on their own. It all started with the arrival of a new student.

“Okay class, settle down. We have a new student today. He came all the way from Ireland! Can everyone say ‘hello’ to Niall?” the teacher at the front of the class said, arm loosely wrapped around the shoulder of a boy. He was definitely small, blonde haired, blue eyed, and had a small scar going down through his left eyebrow.

 

“Hi Niall,” the class dutifully responded.

Liam looked at Harry and giggled. This kid was smaller than Louis- and Louis was tiny!

“Why don’t you tell us something about yourself Niall?” the teacher asked. The boy stood there, with a panicked expression on his face. “It’s okay; it doesn’t have to be a lot. You can just say hello.”

“’lo,” Niall muttered. His voice was soft, and there were a few girls who coo-d at the sound.

“That’s very nice, why don’t you go take a seat. Louis? Can you raise your hand?” Louis shot his hand up, happy to have the attention on him. “Niall, you’re going to sit by Louis, okay? He’s going to show you around and help you out. Is that okay, Louis?”

"Sure is, Miss Watson!” Louis said, proudly, smirking at the other boys.

“Okay, thank you Louis. So just sit next to him Niall.”

Niall slowly made his way down the classroom, being careful not to knock into anyone or anything. When he reached his seat, Louis stuck out his hand and said, “Hi! I’m Louis!

And this is Zayn, Liam, and Harry. They’re my best mates. You can be our friend to if you want!”

Niall looked at the hand offered to him for a second, and then reached out to shake it. He didn’t say anything, but Louis figured he was just shy.  
Miss Watson waited for Louis to be done introducing himself (because it was cute, she couldn’t resist) and then got back to teaching. But the four boys couldn’t help but let their minds wander to the blonde who was going to be their new friend.

Finally, it was recess, and the boys ran out to play.

“Come on, Niall, we have to get our jungle gym before anyone else does!” Harry said, grabbing Niall’s wrist and running. Niall quickly got his hand out of Harry’s, stopped where he was, and held his arm protectively to his chest. The other boys stopped running as well, and turned around. Niall was breathing heavily, and looked like he wanted to run away.

“What’s wrong, Niall?” Liam asked. “Don’t you want to play with us?” They weren’t sure what was wrong; everybody should want to play with them. They were probably the coolest kids in year six.

“Hey, it’s alright. You don’t have to play if you don’t want to. But it’s going to be fun,” Zayn said soothingly, approaching Niall slowly. Niall looked scared, like the raccoon that had gotten trapped in his backyard last year. His dad had put his hands in front of him and made soothing noises to calm the animal down, so Zayn figured that would work on Niall as well. “Yeah, that’s right mate, just tell us what’s wrong.”

“I can’t,” Niall whispered, and ran back to the classroom. The other boys looked at each other with stricken looks on their faces.

“Should we do something about that?” Louis asked.

“What can we do?” Harry asked. “Besides, it’s recess. Can’t we talk to him after recess?”

“I guess we can. Let’s go play,” Liam said, running towards the jungle gym.

After recess, the boys had almost forgotten about the problem with their new friend, but were soon reminded when they came back to class. Niall was sitting in his chair, arms crossed in front of his chest, sniffling every few seconds.

“Hey Niall, are you feeling better?” Louis asked, putting his arm around Niall’s shoulders. Niall flinched when Louis put his arm around him, and stayed tense as his arm remained there.

“I know what will make you feel better! I have some chocolate that you can have,” Harry said, pulling out some Hershey’s from his pocket. He broke off a piece, and gave it to Niall. Niall looked at it suspiciously. “It’s okay. It’s just chocolate,” Harry coaxed.

Niall slowly reached out and grabbed the chocolate, putting it into his mouth quickly, like he was afraid someone was going to take it from him.

“You’re supposed to say thank you,” Liam frowned.

“Thank you,” Niall whispered, to which the boys beamed. They made their new friend happy!

Miss Watson called the class to order, so the boys sat in their seats, but they kept thinking of ways to get Niall to open up to them.

 

At lunch time, the boys all dug into their meals. They had dragged Niall into sitting next to them so they could keep an eye on him, but it seemed like he didn’t have a lunch.

“Where’s your food, Niall?” Louis asked. “Did your mom forget to pack it?”

"Shut up, Louis,” Zayn hissed. “What if he doesn’t have a mom?”

Harry nodded sagely. “Do you have a mommy, Niall?” He asked seriously. The other boys sniggered at his use of the word ‘mommy,’ but he didn’t care.

Niall shook his head, and the boys all gasped. Harry wrapped Niall in a hug. “I’m so sorry!” he cried.

“Is that why you’re always so sad? ‘Cuz you don’t have a mom?” Louis asked him. Liam hit him upside the head.

“You gotta be polite about it,” he hissed to Louis. To Niall he said, “That’s alright, we understand. Do you want some of our food? Are you hungry?”

Niall shook his head, but his stomach growled, and the boys laughed.

“That’s a yes,” Zayn said, and the boys looked at their lunches to see what they could give up.

“My mom always packs me two sandwiches; you can have one of those,” Liam said, handing over one of his PB&J.

“I have carrot sticks. You can have half of them, ‘cuz I still need to get my vegetables for the day,” Harry said, carefully counting out how many there were in his bag. He made sure there was an even amount for the two of them before handing Niall half on a napkin.

Louis held up a juice box and a water bottle. “Mom always packs me a juice box and a water bottle,” he said, “so you can have the juice box. Wait, I want the juice. You can have the water. Yeah. No wait, I want the water. No, final answer, I want the juice.” He handed the water over, but looked longingly after it.

“And you can have some of my Oreo’s,” Zayn said. “See, you have a full-balanced lunch or whatever you wanna call it.”

“Thanks guys,” Niall said, happily digging in to the food like he hadn’t eaten in a week.

And that’s how it went the rest of the week. Niall would show up without any lunch, and the boys would all feed him. They even started bringing extra snacks and drinks from home so there was enough to go around. It made them proud to be able to help one of their friends. Niall was someone they were in charge of taking care of.

 

They also noticed that Niall didn’t dress right. It took them about two weeks, because they were young boys, and fashion wasn’t really on the forefront of their minds, but they noticed on a particularly cold morning.

“Niall, why don’t you ever wear a jumper?” Zayn asked one day. Niall was shivering on the playground in a flannel long sleeved shirt.

“Don’t have one,” Niall muttered.

“What do you mean you don’t have one? Everybody has a jumper- it snows here,” Louis said, as though the fact was obvious. Liam hit him upside the head.

“Remember, he doesn’t have a mum to make sure he has that stuff,” he whispered, as though Niall wouldn’t be able to hear.

“I don’t know, I haven’t had one in years. It’s okay, I don’t really need one,” Niall said, ignoring Liam’s comment.

The boys gasped, but they decided that it was their duty to make sure their friend stayed warm. Louis brought an extra jumper the next day that he told Niall he could keep. They were the closest in size, and it still was too large for Niall. The other boys thought he looked adorable, although they would never admit that fact out loud. Niall ended up wearing it every day for the rest of the week. After that, the boys would take turns bringing an extra jumper on Monday, Niall would wear it all week, and then the boys would take it home on Friday to be cleaned. It was a great system, even if all the jumpers were huge on Niall.

 

One day, Miss Watson called on Niall to answer a question in class. Niall sat petrified in his seat as his breathing sped up.

“Hey, it’s okay. You just have to answer the question, it’s okay if you get it wrong,” Zayn whispered from behind him.  
Niall nodded, and said, “12?” in a shaky voice.

“Very good Niall,” Miss Watson said.

When the attention had turned away from them, Zayn gave Niall a pat on the back. Niall flinched, but Zayn didn’t notice.

“Here, Niall,” Harry said, breaking off a piece of chocolate that he had brought from home, “you deserve this.” Niall happily gulped up the treat with a smile on his face. His breathing slowed down, and he seemed proud of himself.

The next day, Niall came in to the classroom and instantly put his head down on his table. He didn’t say hi to the boys- he just came in and plopped down in his seat. The boys were instantly concerned.

“Niall, what’s wrong?” Harry asked, poking him in the back of the head.

“Harry, don’t do that,” Liam scolded. He was worried about Niall as well, but poking the lad in the head would just annoy the boy.

Zayn came and leaned next to Niall’s desk. “Hey, just tell us what’s wrong, okay mate?” He asked Niall.

Niall lifted his head up, and seemed to stare at Zayn forever before he said, “I’m just tired.”

The other boys looked at each other, not really believing it, but they decided to let it go.

“Do you want a piece of chocolate to wake you up?” Harry asked. He had noticed that Niall appreciated the chocolate the last two times he had had it, so Harry had decided he would bring it with him every day. He offered a piece out to Niall, who seemed to perk up at the mention of the treat.

“Thanks, Harry,” he said as he grabbed the chocolate and ate it. Harry beamed.

That trend continued on. The boys grew used to carrying chocolate in their pockets, so they could reward Niall whenever he did something that they deemed good. Any question in class answered, any time he helped them with something (because he was really good at math, and was able to explain it better than Miss Rich ever could), or even if he was just in a good mood and they thought he deserved it, they would break off a piece for him to have.

Even though they were with Niall a lot, they weren’t with him constantly. And he had accidentally made some enemies when he knocked into Nathan and his friends during lunch. Niall just went to grab his jumper from the class since he forgot it, but he ran into Nathan, who was holding his school-bought lunch in his hands. The boys still weren’t sure what happened, because Niall couldn’t talk about the incident without freaking out, but they knew for sure that Nathan wasn’t happy, and had gotten his two friends to hold Niall while he punched him in the stomach. The boys had gone looking for him when he hadn’t come back after a few minutes, and found him crying behind the trash cans. It had taken the rest of lunch to get him to come out, and the rest of the day to get him to tell them what had happened.

 

After that, they watched Niall a lot more closely. Obviously, it was too dangerous for him to be by himself.

 

One thing that they couldn’t get Niall used to was how touch-y they all were. Since they had grown up together, they had no problem giving each other hugs, or swinging an arm around one another, or even tackling someone to the ground. It was just normal for them. Niall was not comfortable with those things. The first time Harry hugged/tackled him, he screamed and scrambled away. Even chocolate wouldn’t help him. The boys weren’t sure if he was angry or surprised, but they realized that they would have to be gentler with touches from now on.

They started off slowly. A slight pat on the back as a greeting in the morning, sitting close at the lunch table, and, what seemed to be Niall’s favorite, rubbing his head when they were happy. They still gave him hugs- like when Nathan found him in the bathroom, and dunked his head in the toilet. It was a gross hug, but they wanted Niall to know that they still loved him. Hugs were rare, so they made sure to cherish it when they could wrangle one out of Niall.

 

Sometimes Niall didn’t want to be touched at all though. And sometimes he came into class looking like he had been crying all night. The boys had learned that on those days, they had to be extra careful with him, and made sure everyone stayed clear. They only touched him if he initiated the contact, and were on hand with chocolate whenever he wanted. They didn’t know why he acted that way sometimes, but he was okay more often than not, so they didn’t worry too much about it.

 

The boys liked to hang out at Liam’s house every day after school. He had a large basement, and since his sisters were gone all the time, it was all theirs. Plus, Mrs. Payne made great after-school snacks. Two weeks after Niall arrived; he was invited to their ‘clubhouse.’

“You’re going to love it,” Harry assured Niall as they all walked over to Liam’s house. “We go there every day and hang out. And Liam’s mom makes all sorts of treats for us.”

“Your mom is going to be there?” Niall asked Liam, in what sounded like a worried tone.

“Well of course she’s going to be there,” Liam said. “Where else would she be?”

“Oh, I just… my dad is usually at work right now. I didn’t think parents were home after school.”

“Well, my mom is. And she checks in on us a lot, it’s really annoying,” Liam said, but the smile on his face showed how fond he was of his mother. “Now come on, we’re almost there.

When they got to the house, they were greeted at the door by Mrs. Payne.

“Hello boys, how was class today?” She asked them as she ushered them inside.

“It was good,” they all chorused. Except for one. Niall was frozen staring at Mrs. Payne.

“Now, come in dearie, it’s frightfully cold out there,” Mrs. Payne said. Niall scampered past her arms, and followed the boys down to the basement.

“And this is our home away from home,” Louis proclaimed, waving his arms around to show off the basement to Niall. The basement had a television with video games set up in front of it, a couch and two bean bag chairs, and a table where the boys could work on their homework.

“It’s going to be cooler,” Liam promised. “My mom said we can get a ping pong table in a few years time.”

“No, it’s really cool already,” Niall assured him, looking around. The boys were eager to show off their domain, and they were really hoping Niall would like it. “I think its awesome mate,” he said to Liam.

“Cheers,” Liam said. “Now, before we start our homework, let’s play some video games.”

The other boys cheered and rushed to their spots. Liam and Zayn took the couch- which was more like a love seat than anything, and Harry and Louis took the two bean bag chairs. Niall stood to the side looking awkward.

“Oh, you can just bring a chair over from the table I guess,” Liam said, setting up the game.

Niall looked at the chairs, and must have decided that bringing one over was too much work, because he said, “that’s alright; I’ll just sit on the floor in front of the couch.” He plopped down in between the legs of Zayn and Liam.

“We only have four controllers,” Zayn said, “who wants to sit out first?”

“I will, I don’t really know how to play, so I’ll watch first,” said Niall. So the boys spent the rest of the day playing video games- their homework long forgotten.

 

Approximately a month after Niall had arrived, Liam called a meeting during recess. He led the boys to the trees so they could talk.

“Sit there,” he told Niall, pointing to the trunk of a tree. Niall instantly sat down, and the other boys walked to a different tree.

“What’s up, Liam?” Louis asked.

“I noticed something last night,” Liam began. “I was watching the telly, and there was a show about a boy and his dog.”

“Bravo Liam,” Zayn said sarcastically.

“No, okay, I was watching it, and the boy did stuff like feed the dog, gave him treats, and made sure he was taken care of,” Liam said.

“Well, yeah. That’s what you would do for a dog,” Harry said.

“Okay, but think about this- what do we do for Niall?” Liam asked. The boys sat in silence for a second before they burst out laughing.

“Oh my god we’ve been treating Niall like a dog!” Louis whispered, looking to the boy, making sure he wasn’t listening.

“You even told him to sit right now! Like you would tell a dog! Are we bad people?” Harry asked.

Liam thought about that. “No… I don’t think we are. We’re making sure someone we care about is fed and cared for. Besides, Niall lets us treat him like a dog, so he must like it.”

“We were even giving him treats- just like you would give a dog a bone!” Zayn moaned, head in his hands. “Oh my God, we even pet him” he said, referring to the pats on the head that they were prone to giving.

“Okay, but guys- how bad is it really?” Louis asked.

“What do you mean?” Liam asked him.

“Well, think about it. What have we always wanted- a pet of our own. And now we have one without our parents knowing. Why is this a bad thing?”

“Because Louis, he’s not a dog. He’s a person. He’s going to hate us once he realizes that we’re treating him like a pet!” Liam yelled.

“I don’t mind,” a new voice said. It was Niall, who had snuck up behind the boys while they were talking.

“What do you mean you don’t mind?” Zayn asked, looking at Niall like he was crazy.

“Well, I noticed a while ago. It was kind of obvious. At first I thought you were making fun of me, but you seemed pretty genuine. Plus, that first week, I was hungry, and you fed me, so I wasn’t going to complain. It’s different from how my old friends treated me but I’m okay with it. You give me food and make sure I’m warm and I feel like you guys care about me,” Niall explained, wringing his hands in front of him, embarrassed.

“Of course we care about you!” Harry said, giving him a hug. “We just…we don’t need to act like you’re a pet to show that you’re our friend.”

“But you said you’ve always wanted a dog,” Niall said, shrugging. “I can be that for you.”

The boys looked at each other.

“We have always wanted a pet…” Liam started.

“And Niall’s basically been ours since he got here, so why not just continue?” Louis finished.

“Plus, if we do a good job, we can talk our parents into getting us a real pet!” Harry exclaimed.

“I don’t think we can tell our parents about this, Harry,” Zayn said. “This is kind of weird, I don’t know if our parents would like it.”

“And besides, we have something way better than a real pet- because we don’t have to pick up Niall’s poop,” Louis said, laughing.

“Okay then, if you’re going to be our real pet, we’re going to have to make some rules,” Liam said, clapping his hands together to get the other boys to stop laughing.

“First thing- you can’t talk anymore unless Miss Rich calls on you. Pets don’t talk.”

“That makes sense, plus, you don’t talk that much already” Harry said. “Although it would be cool if pets could talk- can you imagine if dogs and cats were able to tell you…”

“Harry, recess isn’t long enough for whatever you’re going to say,” Louis interrupted him. “Okay, rule number two- you can’t go anywhere by yourself. ‘Specially since Nathan and his buddies have it out for you.”

“That’s a good rule,” Zayn said. “It’s our job to make sure you’re safe, so you need to stay with us.”

“Rule number three is that you have to listen to us when we tell you to do something,” Harry said. “If we say sit, you have to sit and stuff like that.”

“Also, even though we’ve kind of been doing it already, we’re in charge of feeding you and making sure you’re happy,” Zayn added.

“We can probably add more rules as things come up,” Liam said, “but that’s probably good for now.”  
Niall nodded, and the boys took this as his confirmation, seeing as he wasn’t supposed to talk anymore.

“Well, now that that’s settled, how about we have a kick about?” Louis said, clapping his hands together.

 

The new system worked out great. Niall seemed to love the extra attention from his classmates, and the boys loved the feeling of being responsible for something. If Miss Watson or Mrs. Payne noticed anything was different, they didn’t comment on it. But, there wasn’t really anything to comment on. Not much had changed in their relationship. They were simply doing what they had been since Niall had arrived at their school, just with more dedication.

They did add on more rules as time went on. Niall was not allowed on the furniture at their hangout. He now had a special rug that he sat on in between all the boys. On the rare occasion that he went over to one of the other boys houses, they all had different rules about what he could and couldn’t sit on.

 

Two weeks into the change, Niall came in to class in a bad mood. He didn’t want to talk, he didn’t want chocolate (which had quickly become his favorite treats) and he definitely did not want to be hugged. It wasn’t until recess that the boys were finally able to figure out what was wrong.

Niall had tried running away at the beginning of recess, but the other boys were all stronger and faster than he was. Louis chased after him and grabbed his hand while Zayn held him by the back of his neck. They walked him over to where the trees were, so they were kind of hidden from the teachers view.

Louis pushed him up against a tree. “Okay, Niall, I know it’s against your rules, but come on, tell us what’s up your butt.”

“Ooh… you’re not supposed to say that,” Harry said, hands over his mouth in shock.

“Well, he’s acting weird!”Louis defended himself.

Niall was still squirming in his hold. “Let me go,” he demanded.

“Not until you tell us what’s wrong,” Liam said. Niall tried to get out of their hold again, making Louis push him back into the tree.

“Ow!” Niall yelled, flinching. The boys looked at each other, confused. Louis hadn’t pushed him that hard, had he?

“…Niall, are you hurt?” Zayn asked. Niall didn’t say anything, but the boys were able to guess.

“Hold him, Liam,” Louis said, giving Niall to Liam to hold, so he could look at Niall’s back. He lifted up his shirt and gasped.

Under Niall’s shirt was a mass of color. There were stripes of red lashes all over his back, some reaching down below his pants. Some were turning purple, while others were yellow and green. Either way, it looked like it hurt. Louis gently brought his finger down one of the lashes.

“What happened, Niall?” he whispered, almost afraid to speak to loudly. Niall just burst out in tears.

“I’m sorry,” he sobbed. “I’m so bad. I try to be good, but I’m so bad.”

The boys were confused on what to do. This wasn’t something they could fix with chocolate.

“Who did this to you?” Zayn asked finally. “You can tell us, I promise. We’ll take care of you.”

“You promise?” Niall asked through watery eyes.

“Yeah,” Liam said. “We all promise.”

“It was me da,” Niall said. “He said I was bad. I’m always bad. And then he hurts me. He said if I’m good, he’ll stop, but I can’t stop being bad.”

“But you’re not bad Niall, you’re perfect!” Harry exclaimed, wanting to give the boy a hug, but afraid of hurting him.

“No!” Niall shouted. “I am bad. I’ll never be as good as my brother was, and I’ll never see him or me mum ever again! And then yesterday, me da lost his job, and he blamed me- said if I wasn’t so worthless, he’d be able to focus on his work.” He burst into tears and fell to the ground sobbing. The boys instantly were by his side, offering their reassurances, hugging him, and doing their best to show him that they were there for him. This was something they hadn’t known about their pet, but it made sense. A lot of the missing pieces were falling into place.

It was the end of recess before Niall had finally calmed down. The boys decided they would talk to someone after school, but Niall stopped them.

“You can’t tell anyone.”

“What! Why can’t we tell anyone?” Louis asked. “How else are we going to get you help?”

“I thought you were going to help me?” Niall asked.

“Yeah, by getting our parents to help us,” Harry explained.

“No, we can’t tell them,” Niall said. “I’ll get in more trouble. I’ll probably get in trouble for telling you. It has to be our secret.”

“So what do we do?” Liam asked. “Should we go to the nurse?”

“That’s as bad as going to our parents, isn’t it?” Louis said. “She’ll just call Niall’s dad, and probably our parents too. No, we’re on our own. We have to make sure Niall is safe.”

“How are we going to do that?” Harry asked. “He can’t go back home. His dad hurt him- probably a lot of times. If he goes back home it’s going to happen again.”

The boys agreed to think about it during class, because this was too intense for just one recess. They would come back during lunch and decide what to do then.

Class was almost unbearable. How did Miss Watson expect them to listen to the importance of metaphors in literature when they had an actual crisis to deal with? Louis and Liam furiously scribbled notes back and forth to each other, planning something elaborate. Zayn would look over Liam’s shoulder ever few minutes to see their progress, but for the most part he kept his thoughts to himself. Harry couldn’t focus on a plan, too distressed at the thought of his friend being hurt right under his nose to eat. Niall sat rigidly straight in his seat, not letting his back touch the back of the seat. He sat like that often; the boys just had never questioned it before. Now they knew why.

By the time lunch came around, Liam and Louis thought they had a pretty good plan of attack.

“Okay men, so here’s the plan. Niall is going to stay with one of us until we turn 18. We’re just going to hide him away and take turns having him at our house,” Louis said.

Zayn laughed. “You’re serious about that? How do you expect to get away with that for the next 8 years? Don’t you think his dad will notice he’s gone? What about our parents? Won’t they notice that there’s an extra person living in the basement or summat?”

“Well, it’s not perfect,” Liam said, “but it’s a work in progress.”

“You need a lot more work than that Liam, this is our pet we’re talking about!” Harry said, holding Niall’s head to his chest. Niall grimaced at the uncomfortable position, but didn’t say anything.

The boys all looked at Niall. What Harry said was true. This wasn’t a game anymore. They had promised to take care of Niall, and they needed to own up to that promise. But how could they protect him when the enemy was no longer the school yard bully, but a full-grown man who was supposed to be Niall’s real caregiver?

“I say we tell our parents,” Zayn said. “Even if your dad does find out Niall, we can protect you.”

“You haven’t protected me before,” Niall scoffed. “You can’t do anything for me once I leave here. Why can’t I just live with you all?”

“Because once your dad realizes your gone, he’ll go looking for you, and we’ll have to give you back,” Zayn tried to explain.

“So no matter what, I have to stay with him?” Niall asked, voice getting louder. “With the man who beats me, who would be starving me if it wasn’t for the food that you give me? You want me to go back there?”

“We don’t want you to go back there, we just don’t know what else to do,” Liam said, trying to calm him down.

“If you didn’t want me anymore, you could have just told me. I knew I didn’t deserve you guys. It was too good to be true,” Niall said, voice now getting quieter as he started muttering to himself.

“Don’t say that, Niall,” Harry said, trying to put an arm around him. “We love you. You just have to let us help you.”

“No, don’t bother.” Niall said. “I deserve this. I deserve him. You know why he hates me so much? I killed my mom and brother.”  
The boys gasped.

“What!?” they all exclaimed. Their pet- a murderer?

“Not exactly, but I was in the car when it crashed, and so he thinks it must be my fault. It’s where I got this,” he said, pointing to the scar on his eyebrow. “He’s been punishing me for it ever since. I always thought that maybe he was wrong, that maybe I shouldn’t be punished, but I guess he was right.”

“No, Niall, he’s completely wrong,” Louis said hurriedly. “It’s not your fault at all.”

“But you all think I should be going back to him. You must believe it too,” Niall said, looking at the boys pleadingly.

“That’s not what we mean, Niall,” Zayn groaned. “Look, let’s just tell Miss Rich. She’s a grown up, she’ll be able to solve this for us, yeah?”

“NO!” Niall shouted. “I told you, we can’t tell anyone else! Whatever. I don’t need you guys. You don’t want me anymore. I’ll just go home. He can just finish up the job.”With that, Niall turned around and sprinted out of the playground. The area wasn’t heavily protected, so he was able to slip past the yard patrol, and run right out of the school yard. The boys were too shocked to do anything but gasp until he was long out of sight.

“What just happened?” Harry asked.

“I don’t think this went the way we wanted it to,” Louis said. Liam slapped him upside the head.

“Obviously,” he said. “Now what are we going to do?”

“What I said to all along?” Zayn asked hopefully.

“No. We can’t betray Niall’s trust like that,” Harry said.

“That’s right,” Liam agreed. “We’ll wait for him to come back tomorrow and decide as a group what we’re going to do then.”

At that point, lunch was over, and it was time to go back to class. They filed back into their desks, and Miss Rich took a head count of everyone.

“Where is Niall?” she asked.

The boys looked to each other.

“Umm… he went to the bathroom,” Zayn covered for him.

“Well, he knows he’s supposed to do that during lunch. He’s going to have to clip down for that,” Miss Watson said, referring to their clip chart. “We’ll have silent time until he comes back.”

“I wouldn’t wait Miss Watson,” Harry said. “I think he was pretty sick.”

“Yeah, lunch really got to him today,” Louis added.

“You know school lunches, never know what to expect,” Liam said.

“Hmm… I thought he brought lunch,” Miss Watson muttered to herself. “Okay,” she said to the class, “we’re going to get started with our maths lesson.”

The boys breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, she would forget about Niall until the end of the day.

Unfortunately, luck was not on their side, and it was not 10 minutes later when she asked about him again.

“I’ll go check on him if you want,” Liam volunteered. “I know where he is.”

“Ok,” said Miss Watson. Out of all her students, she knew that Liam was the most responsible. “Please go check on him and bring him back. Or send him to the nurse if he still isn’t feeling well.”

Liam dashed out of the classroom and headed towards the bathroom. He figured he could hide out in there for an appropriate amount of time. After enough time had passed, he came back to class and told Miss Watson that Niall had gone home. Miss Watson didn’t question it. The boys all breathed a sigh of relief.

The next day, they waited at their spot on the playground for Niall to show up. They waited until the bell rang, but Niall never came.

“He’s never missed a day before,” Harry said. “Even when he was sick, remember?”

“This is bad. This is because of yesterday,” Zayn said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, well, what are we going to do about it now?” Louis asked. “We’re stuck here for the next six hours.”

The boys went to class dejectedly, heads hung low. They were scared of what could be happening to their pet, and disappointed in themselves for letting it happen. They didn’t focus at all on what the lesson was, and just sat through first recess. By the time lunch came around though, Liam decided enough was enough.

“That’s it lads,” he said. “We’re going to go and find Niall and help him.”

“But how?” Zayn asked. “We’re stuck here for another two hours at least.”

“Plus, we don’t know where Niall lives,” Louis added.

That made Liam pause. It was true. Niall basically lived at their houses; they had no reason to know where he lived.

“Well, we’ll find out where he lives and we’ll go rescue him,” Liam said firmly.

“Yeah?” Harry asked skeptically. “How do you plan on doing that?”

“I’ll think of something,” Liam said, already forming a plan. “Now, I want you lot to sneak out the side gate, one at a time, and wait for me down by the hill. I’ll meet you there in a bit.”

“What if we get caught?” Harry asked. Harry and Liam didn’t have so much as a tardy on their records, which was impressive seeing as they were friends with Louis and Zayn.

Being caught would definitely leave a mark on their record.

“Ummm… try not to get caught,” was all the advice Liam had to give. “Good luck, men,” he said, heading off to the office.

Harry, Louis and Zayn stood by the gate for a few seconds, seeing if anyone would notice them. It was locked from the inside, to keep people out, but not to keep people in. Fire hazard and all that. It would be easy to get out, it was just getting out unnoticed that would be difficult.

Harry slowly opened the gate and slipped through.

“Well, that’s not so hard,” Louis said. As he finished saying it, one of the lunch monitors spotted them.

“You there,” she shouted, “get back here!”

“And that’s our cue to go, gents,” Louis said, pushing Zayn through the gate and following him. They ran down the hill, and the lunch monitor fell back.

“She’s probably calling the bobbies as we speak,” Louis laughed as he ran down the hill.

“Oh man, oh man, we’re going to be in so much trouble,” Harry was muttering to himself.

“Live a little, Hazza,” Zayn said. “We’re going to go down in history at school. ‘The boys who ran out at lunch,’ or summat. It’ll be great.”

They made it down to the pre-arranged meeting spot, and sat down to catch their breath. It was about ten minutes later when Liam came up, also out of breath.

“You lot got the whole school in a panic,” he said, hands on his knees and panting. “Everyone is freaking out.”

“Insane. Does nobody care that Niall did the same thing yesterday? How’d the little squirt get away with it and we couldn’t?” Louis asked.

“I think ‘cuz there was more of us,” Harry said thoughtfully. “And we’re not as small as Niall is.”

“Okay, well, whatever the reason, we need to go now,” Liam said urgently.

“Do you have the address?” Zayn asked. When Liam nodded proudly, he asked how he got it.

“Told the secretary that I was going to be taking his homework to him today, but I didn’t remember his address, and I was walking straight after school. She gave me directions and everything,” Liam said.

“That’s brilliant, Liam,” Louis said.

“I have my moments,” Liam said. “Now come on. It’s a fair distance, and we have to keep moving if we’re going to stay ahead of everyone.”

“Do you think they called our parents?” Harry asked.

“No question,” Zayn said. “We’re talking eternal groundings here.”

“But it’s worth it if Niall is safe,” Harry confirmed, to which the other boys nodded.

They walked for what seemed like forever, but was really only about 45 minutes.

“Niall walks to school this long every day?” Louis asked in disbelief. “That’s crazy.”

“And he walks home from all our houses, and that’s just as far,” Liam added.

“From now on, we should get our parents to give him a ride home,” Harry said.

“Harry, he’s not going to be going home after this,” Louis reminded him. “He’s going to be living with us, remember?”

“I thought we agreed that wouldn’t work,” Zayn said.

“Well, then, we tell our parents,” Harry said. “As long as Niall is with his dad, he won’t be safe, and it’s our job to protect him. We need to get him out of there. Look at these houses, they’re all run down.”

It was true; this was not a good-looking neighborhood. But, by this time, they had almost reached Niall’s house. Before they could reach it though, there was a siren, and a police car pulled up alongside them.

“Aren’t you boys supposed to be in school right now?” The policeman asked.

“We actually are homeschooled. We’re on a scavenger hunt to find different birds of England right now,” Louis said, almost completely straight-faced. “Oh look, a swallow,” he said, pointing at the sky.

“Really?” The cop said sarcastically. “Because I have an alert here for four boys who walked out of school not too long ago. You seem to fit the description.”

“Okay,” Harry said. “We walked out of school, but it was for a good reason!”

“Yeah, our friend is…oof!” Zayn was violently elbowed by Liam.

“We can’t tell the cops, remember?” he hissed.

“Okay boys, my name is Officer Paul, I suppose we’re going to be friends for the next hour or so until your parents arrive,” Paul said, as he had them line up on the sidewalk and sit. They were so close. They were literally sitting two houses down from where Niall was, but they couldn’t tell the policeman. It was killing them.

Officer Paul called all their parents to come pick them up. Liam’s mum, who didn’t work during the day, was the first to arrive.

“Liam James Payne, you better have a good excuse for this young man,” she said as soon as she got out of the car.

“Mum, I swear I do,” Liam said, standing up to give her a hug. This would be a perfect time to tell his mum what was happening, but the policeman hadn’t left yet, and he didn’t want to risk it. Harry’s mum came not too much later, and gave him the same speech that Liam got.

Suddenly, there were shouts coming from down the street. At first, it was just a man yelling, but then they heard a boy- it was Niall! They were sure of it!

“You see! That’s why we had to leave!” Louis yelled, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. “Niall is in there and who knows what his dad is doing to him as we speak! We’ve gotta protect him!”

The other boys shouted their agreement, hoping that the surrounding adults would see the importance of getting to Niall’s house now.

“What do you mean?” Officer Paul asked. “What’s happening in there?”

“We’ll tell you later,” Zayn assured him, “but now, we’ve gotta save Niall!” The boys took off down the street. Liam got to the house first. Niall had stopped yelling, but they thought they could hear him crying still.

“C’mon guys. We need to hurry,” Liam said, heading up to the front door. Officer Paul was yelling behind them, but they ignored him. “It’s open!” he cried, twisting the knob.

“Wait, we need a plan,” Zayn said.

“Okay, me and Harry will take out Niall’s dad, Zayn, you and Louis get Niall outside,” Liam said.

The boys rushed in before Officer Paul, who was now on the front lawn, could stop them.

Niall’s house was a mess. There was broken glass and papers thrown about everywhere, and paint was peeling from the walls. They didn’t really take time to look at the house though. They could hear Niall clearly now, and his dad.

“Worthless piece of crap!” SMACK.

“This way,” Louis mouthed, pointing towards the noise. The boys cautiously walked into a kitchen, where Niall was cowered on the floor, and a man above him, holding a belt.

“Who are you?” the man, presumably Niall’s father, asked.

“We’re your worst nightmare,” Louis said. “Get him boys!”

As it turns out, two ten year old boys are no match for a full grown man. Liam charged at the man, but he was tossed into the corner of the room. Harry tried to punch him, but Niall’s dad was easily able to deflect his punch, and knock Harry to the floor. Thankfully, the boys had brought backup. Meaning Officer Paul had arrived.

“You like beating up kids? How about someone your own size?” he asked, knocking the man to the ground, and holding him down.

“Ugh… Paulie, that was the most cliché thing I’ve ever heard,” Louis groaned.

At this point, two more officers came into the house, and were able to help Officer Paul subdue Niall’s father. He did not go down easily, but between the three of them, they were able to get him in handcuffs, and out to the car.

The boys cheered as the door was slammed in his face.

“Yes! We won!” they cheered. They were immensely proud of themselves. Liam wearily got up from where he had been thrown, gingerly touching his head. Harry picked himself up off the floor and they rushed over to Niall.

Niall was busy being looked after by Louis and Zayn. He had marks across his back and arms, and the boys were using their jumpers to stop the bleeding.

“We saved you, Niall,” Harry said. “Told you we would.”

“Thanks guys,” Niall said, “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“Well, this is why we have rules,” Louis said. “If you had just stayed with us, we could have gotten you help earlier.”

“Maybe,” Liam said. “We got lucky mates.”

At this point, officer Paul and one of the other policemen came back into the house.

“Alright, son,” Officer Paul said, heading towards Niall, “let’s get you down to the station and figure out what’s happening.”

When they got outside, they saw all their parents- Louis and Zayn’s moms had brought their little sisters along as well. None of the adults looked happy with them. Suddenly, things looked grim.

Officer Paul made to put Niall in the backseat of his cruiser.

“Wait!” the boys cried.

“Where do you think you’re taking him?” Louis asked, hands on hips.

“Well, he’s going to go to the station for a bit, answer some questions, and then we’ll go from there,” Officer Paul said.

“But he’s ours! He has to come with us!” Harry said. The other boys glared at him, but kept quiet.

“Did you know that this was happening? Is that why you left school today?” the officer asked. The boys all nodded. He sighed, and looked to the assembled adults, “Okay, looks like we’re all taking a trip to the station.”

 

 

The ride to the station was not fun. Even if Louis and Harry got to ride in the back of the police car with Niall, they didn’t get to enjoy it because Niall was crying. He didn’t seem to be hurt all that bad, but he was scared. Harry made sure to run his fingers through Niall’s hair and to offer reassurances that they would never leave him.

The actual station was a blur of questions. How did they know Niall was in trouble? How long had they known that Niall was being abused? What did Harry mean by ‘he’s ours’?

That was an awkward question to answer, but the boys decided if it meant they got to keep Niall when this was all over, it would be worth it.

The adults- both the police and their parents, seemed surprised at the dedication they had to Niall. The fact that they had been caring for him for the past six months did not go unnoticed. However, it was explained to them, gently, that Niall wouldn’t be allowed to stay with them.

“But why not?” Harry asked, heartbroken.

“Niall needs to be protected, and so he’ll go to a special family that can take care of him,” Officer Paul explained.

“We can protect him. We’re better than anybody out there. We’ve been taking care of him for months, why can’t we do it?” Louis yelled.

This cycle continued on for another half an hour. The boys just did not understand why they weren’t being allowed to keep their pet. Finally, the adults left the room, and the boys were left alone to talk.

“What are we going to do?” Liam asked.

“Obviously, there’s only one thing to do,” Louis said. “We’re going to break outta here, find Niall, and get him out before they ship him off.”

“Louis, that’s a terrible idea,” Zayn said. “We’d just get caught again.”

“Well, do you have any better ideas?”

Silence

“I didn’t think so. Now, Niall’s probably in the nurse’s section of this place, so we’ll head for there, grab him and…”

“And what? How are we going to get out of here, past all these cops and our parents, and then somehow make it home? And what do you expect to do once we make it home?” Liam asked.

“We already decided that this was the best plan,” Louis said through gritted teeth.

“Maybe… maybe we should just let Niall go,” Liam said. The other boys gasped. “Think about it! We weren’t able to protect him from his dad. We couldn’t do anything for him once he got home. Maybe we should just let adults handle this.”

“No! He’s ours!” Harry cried. Louis wrapped a comforting arm around him.

“Don’t worry Harry, we’ll figure this out,” he said.

At this point, Officer Paul and Liam’s parents came in.

“Okay boys, we’ve come to an arrangement that we think you’ll like,” Officer Paul said.

Mrs. Payne spoke next, “we’ve spoken to child services and they’ve agreed to let Niall stay with us…”

There was more that was said, but the boys didn’t listen. How could they? They were getting to keep Niall! This was the best news ever!

“So let’s go ask Niall if that’s what he wants,” Officer Paul said.

The boys scoffed. “Of course he’s going to want to come with us,” Louis said.

“You don’t need to ask,” Harry said.

“Okay, and that’s something we’re going to have to talk about,” Mrs. Payne said. “Niall is not a pet. He is a person, and his opinion matters.”

The boys looked to each other, confused. They knew Niall was a person, but he was their pet first, wasn’t he?

Officer Paul led them to where Niall was. He was sleeping on a cot in a medical looking room.

“Niall!” Harry shouted, running over to him and giving him a hug. Niall startled awake with a yell.

“You’re safe now, and you’re going to live with me!” Liam exclaimed.

“Liam!” his mother scolded. “What did we just talk about?”

“Sorry mum,” he said, hanging his head.

“Now Niall,” Officer Paul said, “As you know, you don’t have to go home to your father again. You’re safe now. Do you understand?” Niall meekly nodded, wide-eyed. The other boys had all found a way to curl up around him in support. “That being said, we need a place for you to go now. Normally, we would send you to a home for boys, but Mr. and Mrs. Payne here have another option for you.”

“How would you like to stay with us?” Mrs. Payne asked. Niall didn’t say anything, but his breathing was elevated.

“See! He’s speechless he’s so happy,” Louis said proudly.

“No one is going to make you come with us,” Mrs. Payne said. “This decision is all yours.”

Niall was silent for a few minutes, before finally saying, “I’d like to stay with you, please.”

The boys cheered and gathered for a huge group hug surrounding Niall. Niall yelled- they had forgotten that he was hurt.

“Sorry Niall,” they said. But they were too happy to really be concerned. Niall was staying with them! For real this time!

It actually took a long time to get Niall out of the police station- there were papers to fill out, meetings to arrange (because they would have to prove that they were a good fit for Niall it turns out- ha, of course they were), and then even more papers to fill out. It seemed endless.

 

Finally though, late into the evening, Niall was released into the boys (Mr. and Mrs. Payne’s) custody. They all celebrated by going to Nando’s, which Niall had once mentioned was his favorite place to eat.

Over dinner, which Harry’s and Liam’s parents attended, it was explained to the boys that things were going to change. There would be no more rules for Niall that the other boys didn’t have, and he especially was allowed to use the furniture. Harry’s mum had given her son a sharp tug on the ear when she heard about that rule. Liam’s parents would be in charge of making sure Niall had enough to eat, and that he had warm clothes. That was no longer the boys responsibility.

The boys were upset. They had been taking great care of Niall (this past day excluded) and they should not have their duties taken away.

“Niall’s not being taken away,” Mrs. Payne explained gently. “You’re just going to have to treat him differently.”

“If you don’t, then they might take him away,” Mr. Payne threatened. The boys gasped and Harry latched onto Niall.

“We can change,” they promised solemnly.

“But, if we do, can we get a real puppy?” Harry asked, to which the adults at the table groaned. They should have known this was coming.

**Author's Note:**

> By the way, I had my internet window open watching DMD the whole time, not even sure how many times I've watched it. So I didn't take a break to finish this. Just wanted to make it clear. Love that video!!!


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